Manulife sees strong growth in 2011, 2012

MANILA, Philippines - Barring any external economic or financial disasters next year, Manulife Philippines is optimistic of expanding its business at the same pace as 2011.

Manulife Philippine president and chief executive officer Indren Naidoo said that in the past two years the insurer had already laid the ground works for sustainable growth in 2012.

“The growth rate for 2012 will remain as strong as 2011,” Naidoo said. “We are well poised to expand in the three major areas, including the provinces, in bancassurance with China Banking Corp., and alternative channels, including its bond fund and microinsurance.

In the first nine months of 2011, gross sales grew by 30 percent while its new business expanded by 54 percent.

Initial estimates indicate that a 20-percent growth in total premiums in the same period.

 That could mean that Manulife’s total premium income for the whole of 2011 may conservatively breach the P5-billion mark, or balloon to as much as P5.5 billion.

 Naidoo refused to comment on the industry estimates, preferring to simply comment that Manulife was “tracking very well in the first nine months of the year.”

However, Manulife generally experiences a stronger surge in the second semester in terms of new business.

He said that they expect strong results in the fourth quarter as it had been rolling out Christmas promotions to boost its sales.

“Normally our second semester reflect our best results, though, we have noticed an increase in product mix,” the chief executive added.

Traditional products basically account for 70 percent of premiums but Manulife noticed a slight jump in sales of variable unit linked (VUL) or investment-linked in the last quarter.

Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific Bond Fund will breach the $10-million mark by the end of the year. The fund is a US dollar-denominated investment-linked fund, which is managed by the insurer’s fund manager based in Hong Kong. Minimum initial investment is $2,500.

The fund primarily invests in a diversified portfolio of mostly investment grade (i.e., average of A-) fixed income securities issued by governments, agencies, supra-nationals and corporate issuers from across the Asia Pacific region.

 The bond fund is managed by a team of fixed income fund managers that is part of a global network of interconnected investment professionals under Manulife Asset Management (Hong Kong) Ltd., the investment management arm of Manulife Financial for Asia.

Total premiums generated last year amounted to P3.97 billion while it was recorded at P3.2 billion in 2009.

Last year, it ranked fourth in terms of net income, seventh in terms of total premium income, fifth in terms of first year premiums, sixth in terms of networth, and ninth in terms of paid-up capital.

Manulife manages 2,700 sales agents and 200 financial experts (FEs). Financial experts are advisers positioned with the branch network of China Bank to sell different insurance products under a joint venture between Manulife and the bank.